My ‘TVB Rant’ #5: Is TVB Pathetic or What???

Ok, I just read the above in the entertainment news and got so worked up that I have to blog about it to let off steam!! I know I shouldn’t get upset anymore, since by now, I sort of ‘expect’ TVB to pull these types of ‘stupidities’ – but I can’t help it…I get offended whenever they do this stupid stuff because I feel like they are trying to insult my intelligence!

It’s obvious that TVB really wants “Can’t Buy Me Love” to sweep the awards and for Moses as well as Charmaine to win TV King and Queen. TVB announced the ratings for the finale episode of CBML today and for the FIRST TIME ever, they actually decided to count the internet viewership ratings as well (which, in my opinion, is not really fair) -- so according to TVB's calculations, the ratings for the finale of CBML was 51 points: 42 points ratings from TV and 9 points from internet viewership (most likely ratings from people who watched via MyTV on their website).....

Unbelievable!!! Once again, another "bonehead" decision by TVB! It's stupid for them to try to "fudge" their own ratings, since the station is already the ratings winner over all the other stations anyway -- ATV is never going to come close PERIOD!

By "fudging" the ratings, TVB is only proving that it's really all about the politics that run their company (despite their constant denial of this fact)…what they are basically doing is trying to "save face" in the event that RB2 becomes a huge hit, since CBML consists of primarily their own contracted artists (and all the "popular" artists whom they are trying to promote) whereas RB2's main leads are not 'biological' (Wayne and Sheren are not contracted and won’t sign with them PERIOD).

They're also trying to use this as an excuse to ‘set up’ for the anniversary awards – pretty much to let CBML either sweep the awards or perhaps get one or all of the major ones (Best Series, TV King, and TV Queen), regardless of whether RB2 has high ratings (because to be honest, no matter how ‘good’ RB2 is going to be, there is a slim chance that it will get to 50 points without some type of intervention). Pretty much, they are going to say: “Well, since CBML got 51 points, they deserve the award.” (To me, that’s just a bunch of BS!!!).

What’s next? Incorporating overseas (non-HK) viewership numbers? How about the number of people who watch TVB series in public places such as restaurants? Or maybe they should count the “channel surfers” who ‘happen’ to flip to one of their series during a commercial on a different channel, watch like 5 minutes of it, then turn back to the original channel? Better yet, I’ve got a good one – if they’re THAT desperate, why don’t they just count all the (illegal) downloads of their series that occur over the world wide web? (I can just see it now: “Oooh, CBML got downloaded 100,000 times! There goes another 2 points added to our ratings, taking it to 53 points! A record! Woohoo!!!!”) Ok, I’m obviously exaggerating, but still – given how stupid TVB’s decision-making has been lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the above scenarios WERE to happen some where down the line….

I’ve noticed that every time TVB has a series that has majority of their own biological sons/daughters in it and they feel 'threatened' by strong competition from other series that don't have their own 'children' in them (the leads at least), they always try to resort to 'backhanded' tactics to get the results they want. Last year, they did it with “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” by over-promoting the series to death plus also moving the anniversary awards to December for the first time ever....this time, they do it for CBML (notice similar cast) by ‘being creative’ with the ratings.....watch, if they do CBML2 or BTROC2 next year, they are going to come up with another "creative idea" to make those series stick out...I would absolutely bet on that (and win too!).

How much more PATHETIC can TVB get???? I mean, everyone knows they favor their own ‘biological sons/daughters’ over non-contracted artists, but do they have to try THAT hard? I don’t know about anyone else, but to me, this is definitely FAVORITISM, plain and simple! And what irks me the most is how TVB is CONSTANTLY coming out and DENYING the fact that favoritism exists in their organization (Mr Tsang or Ms Lok: “What favoritism? We don’t play favorites!”) or they claim that there is no such thing as ‘biological son/daughter’ and that there are no ‘cliques’ or ‘parties’ in their company. WHO THE HELL ARE THEY TRYING TO FOOL??? If they are truly not playing favorites (remember that they adamantly deny that they play favorites) as they claim, then how do they explain the above actions?

Well, one thing’s for sure -- I'm definitely keeping an eye out for tomorrow's articles to see if Mr Tsang Sing Ming (TVB’s Manager of External Affairs and designated spokesperson) is going to make any type of lame statement regarding the CBML ratings thing. Last time, when TVB ‘mistakenly’ ranked “Pillowcase of Mystery 2” above “Mysteries of Love” as #1 series of the year in terms of ratings, Mr Tsang came out to ‘apologize’ and TVB ‘corrected’ their mistake. In my honest opinion though -- the main reason why they "apologized" and corrected the rankings last time was because they "realized" that the audiences aren't as stupid or naive as they thought (in other words, they ‘realized’ that we actually look at the ratings and can do our own calculations to figure out which one should be ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) -- so pretty much it was due to public pressure. So basically, they weren’t able to ‘pull the wool’ over our eyes that time – which I’m sure they didn’t expect, since TVB is used to always trying to ‘sweep things under the rug’ if they can get away with it....

Oh, and to add insult to injury, one of the media outlets published a ‘list’ of the Top 5 highest rated TVB series – Korean series “Jewel in the Palace” used to be at the top of the list with 50 point rating, followed by “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” (which I personally don’t count as officially receiving a 50 point rating because it only ‘peaked’ at 50 points – meaning that at ONE POINT during the entire 30 episode series, the ratings had reached 50…that ‘one point’ could have been 1 particular scene, or could have even lasted only 1 minute or a few seconds…it doesn’t mean the entire series consistently was at the 50 point mark). Now, “Can’t Buy Me Love” is ‘supposedly’ at the top of that list with its 51 points, beating out “Jewel in the Palace” – how messed up is that???

It's VERY sad that the TRUE highest rated series is a non-TVB series (Jewel in the Palace)....heck, it's not even a HK series! Yet, in order for TVB's own series to get into the 50 point mark, they actually have to "fudge" the numbers!! What a shame! As far as I'm concerned (and not that my opinion matters, but I have the right to state it), CBML is NOT the highest rated series -- in fact, it wouldn't even make this list if we go by the original ratings numbers! If I were TVB, I wouldn't go around "bragging" about the 51 point rating for CBML....because it just makes them look stupid!!!

Bottom line – from my point of view, no matter how much TVB tries to manipulate the numbers for the series they favor, the original Rosy Business is still going to be the TRUE ratings winner no matter which way you look at it....RB was able to get its average 47 point rating purely based on the quality of the acting and the script -- the series had virtually no promotion (especially as compared to BTROC) for one, and two, the ratings were based PURELY on regular channel audience viewership -- there were no HDTV numbers factored into the ratings (whereas all of the series that aired after RB had HDTV ratings factored in) and definitely did not have any of this "internet viewership" crap added in.

I'm waiting to see a TVB series actually get 50 points average overall (entire series) -- none of this "peaking at 50" crap! I wonder if it will happen in my lifetime.....

14 comments:

Wow, extreme! Calm down! They're not worth the fuss over. (This is why I'm not paying attention to the politics game anymore. I just watch or whatever. BUT then again, I'm not even watching any new TVB ones lately.)

RB - still didn't watch yet. But I'm sure the cast worked hard for it, making it work. (I didn't watch 'cause I already watched Safeguards and it was so similar so see no point.)

AND the only reason why they even clarified regarding Pillow Case was because it was just Bobby, NOT their favorite ones anyway.

ALSO, told you already. TVB's trying to get people to hate Charmaine and Moses, and probably the rest of the CBML cast even more. 'Cause I could see right now the MOL fans are SO going to rant about it. (I didn't watch either one SO won't comment regarding the plot, BUT I could the fans fighting already.) It's just sad that people like to be manipulated by TVB and the media.

I wholeheartedly agree with what you are saying! TVB has really f*cked up badly... I think they're really scared that No Regrets will beat CBML in ratings... Which makes me hope that No Regrets will indeed beat their ratings even more!

And I can understand your anger. I was very angry when I read about it as well. It's really not very fair to the other dramas and artistes who have, if not, put in more effort in trying to make their dramas a success.

DTLCT: I know, I know, it's not worth it -- but I can't help getting all worked up when TVB makes stupid moves..maybe it's more of an expression of disappointment than anything because I had been such a dedicated follower for more than 20 years (40 years of you count the rest of the family).

I have to admit that the plot of RB was quite similar to Safeguards -- and some scenes were obvious too -- but I was actually ok with it because 1) I liked both series since both were so well-made, and 2) the acting, especially from Wayne, absolutely made up for it!

Oh, and regarding the clarification thing between MOL and APOM (I just thought about this earlier today) -- in addition to the reason I stated above, I know the other reason was because alot of Raymond and Tavia fans were pissed off and went back to review the ratings, then pressured TVB to fix their error....otherwise, TVB wouldn't have done it. Everyone loves Bobby (me included), but we all know that Raymond and Tavia are extremely popular right now and probably have 10x more fans than Bobby and Jessica..that's why I don't think that anyone is going to 'complain' about the CBML ratings thing because Moses and Charmaine are hugely popular right now and have alot of fans...

So yea, I agree -- TVB is trying to play their 'game' again, just like they did last year (toying with people to make them believe they weren't going to give the award to Sheren, but then caving in to the pressure)

Well, I am crossing my fingers and praying hard that RB2 will beat CBML big-time! I swear, TVB really does a good job of turning people 'against' certain series or artists -- just like DTLCT said in her comment -- now there are going to be alot of people who hate CBML and the cast because of TVB's 'manipulating'. It was the same thing with BTROC last year when TVB over-promoted it to death, which caused alot of people to refuse to watch it because they were so sick of the 'in your face' tactics. Oh, and don't forget the Bosco incident at last year's awards and of course, the 'ultimate' example from years back, Kevin Cheng....Argh!!!! Damn TVB!!

Thanks for mentioning the 47 points versus 45 points thing...I actually wrote about that in another forum as well. Here's what I wrote:

"It's unfair for TVB to pull a 'dirty trick' just so that the series that they favor will look good and also to boost its chances at the awards ceremony.

45 points is definitely impressive, but I guess for TVB, it wasn't good enough for what they expected out of this series (CBML) -- BUT most important of all, the 45 points doesn't beat the 47 points that RB1 got last year, which is what I think TVB is really going for (they want CBML to beat RB1 and RB2 no matter what it takes)...."

Forgot what I wanted to say earlier so I was distracted (LOL), but agree with you. What I want to say is I honestly hope RB2 would break some major records! Seriously, I'm sure TVB's fueling fans' cause right now (aka trying to challenge viewers)! So I would love to see RB2 beating the slanted system again JUST to say that they don't need to play those games in order to win those rating wars. Though I know ratings DOES NOT prove definite quality, BUT I just love to see things shove back into TVB's face.

DTLCT: Haha...yup, pretty much at this point, we're just trying to prove a point. Setting aside the whole issue of quality, whether deserving or not, etc., doesn't matter -- my main point to TVB: You wanted to start a war, so BRING IT ON!!!!!

Lol you sounds pretty angry at TVB. I also got annoyed at their 'tactics', but hey I can't bring myself to hate the artistes. Charmaine and Bosco are pretty cool rising actors with unique charisma although many hate them. Although I give no damn about a certain TV King holder Kevin Cheng.

zzXyz: Haha..it's hard not to be angry at TVB, especially when they always tend to do stupid things and stick their foot in their mouth one too many times!

As for the artists -- well, it's not that I hate them (I actually pity them more than anything), but sometimes the way TVB does things turns me off so much that I tend to subconsciously 'boycott' the artist too in a sense. For example -- I have nothing against Charmaine, Raymond, and Moses, but TVB has been promoting them SO MUCH that I'm sort of sick and tired of seeing them -- so I stay away from watching their series / movies, etc. until I feel like I can tolerate them again...the more TVB tries to 'stick' them in our faces, the more I go in the other direction....

I'm also looking forward to RB2 -- from what I read, Sheren and Wayne's characters seem very interesting...

Agree with you that the more TVB tries to promote these people, the more I get sick of them! I'm glad that I'm just not the only one who has such strong feelings against these people... They value looks more than talent now, which is really sad. TVB will be in big trouble if this continues...

@No Regrets - I totally agree regrading talents vs. looks. NOT that they're responsible for educating the public or anything BUT I found a group of people who would bash endlessly IF someone doesn't have to look, saying that TVB is the best because they have good looking stars. That's just MESSED UP. When did good looking = good acting?

No Regrets: Interesting that you mention the looks versus talents thing because 1) that's always been my biggest complaint against TVB the past 7-8 years and 2) DTLCT and I were just talking about this exact same topic a couple days ago.

The emphasis on looks really goes back to the new management that took over at the beginning of the decade, as that's around the time where majority of the 'talented' people left TVB (or switched to non-management contracts) so the management grew 'desperate' in a sense. And sad to say, but as long as Virginia Lok continues in her position as Artists Management Executive, the emphasis will continue to be on looks, as she has some sort of 'affinity' toward 'good-looking' people...

Well, I've gotten to the point where I don't care anymore of TVB continues to go down this path -- they know what their issues are, but still choose to ignore them, so as far as I'm concerned, they can just continue to dig their own graves....